Quaint little restaurant with inside and deck dining. The waitress was delightful and the food was good. We had a meat eater, a vegetarian and a gluten free eater. We were all satisfied. Nothing fancy for lunch but all good food.
We ate at Tortuga’s multiple times during our recent trip to Edisto. Their food quality is great and they have a variety of gluten free options which is wonderful and quite rare for the area.
The real issue with Tortuga’s is their service approach, especially for the menu variety and price point being offered. We found their service to be a bit impersonal and cumbersome with it being 💯 kiosk driven for ordering. Our real hesitation in recommending Tortuga’s to others is that they charge you for water.
Any restaurant offering dine-in services should offer tap water complimentary. At almost $20 a plate we had to do a separate transaction for water each time we visited as it wasn’t apparent that you need to do this at the kiosk during our initial order. Each time we asked for water with our meal and were directed to buy it, a separate purchase for a plastic cup & tap water. This is poor service and shows poor care and interests in their customers who are often coming in often on bikes, etc. in a hot beach town. Again, the food is good however for the price point their dine-in service offerings need to catch up.
The food was delicious and service was good. The very best thing for us is that this is the ONLY restaurant on Edisto with gluten free options specifically labeled on the menu. THANK YOU for that! Eating GF at the beach is always a challenge. We visited the Waterfront twice during our stay and loved the GF scallops, chopped steak, prime rib, and a grilled chicken salad. Plus, all of the sides are GF. The non-celiacs in our group also enjoyed the shrimp, crab cake, burgers, hush puppies, and calamari. It's a great place!
For someone with celiac BBQ and Seafood is normally a safe option. This place did offer GF choices, but only 1 fryer unsafe/contaminated. So wings are a no go. I asked about a palmetto Hawaiian sandwich without bread, I was told it's kinda like a grilled cheese so not an option. Sides were limited. Despite limitation because of the GF options that appealed to me what I did have was good. I ended up with the 2 meat platter. Ribs and brisket with potato salad.